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Some budding business entrepreneurs from Kaipara Flats Road got some extra publicity for their “patties” when they became a minor sensation on Facebook.
Keeping it simple
Newly elected local board members could be forgiven for struggling to get their heads round the complexities of Auckland Council’s myriad budgets, plans and reports – it can take years of reading agenda and deciphering balance sheets before the mists begin to clear and Council-speak starts to make sense.
A case in point occurred at last week’s first full Rodney Local Board meeting, when members were asked to support a transfer of funds earmarked for a new Huapai sports centre from one budget to another, to keep the money in the Board’s control – or, as Council put it, “reallocate the $1 million
Rodney Local Board contribution from the Rodney Local Board One Local Initiative budget line to the Rodney Local Board Locally Driven Initiative Capital fund. Reallocating the budget back into the Rodney Local Board LDI capital budget is regarded as a prudent step for the local board to optimise use of the LDI capex budget in future financial years”.
Not surprisingly, at least one new Board member needed a little clarity on what this actually meant in real terms – where was the money going exactly and could it be used for anything else?
Luckily, Council work programme lead Angie Bennett was able to cut through the Council-ese and make everything crystal clear.
“You’re getting $1 million from your savings account and putting it into your cheque account, but you don’t get your cheque book until 2027-28,” she said.
